May I interrupt the argument for a few seconds to post something of scientific interest?
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1002/
No, this won't help the people in Haiti, nor make Katrina into a mild rain shower, but it is remarkable what astronomers can do using ground based telescopes, when just a few decades ago this kind of work was thought to be impossible even with space-based observatories.
At this rate, we're just a few years away from discovering Earth II. Paging Deborah Farentino.